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Hmm, I see I also got negative antipoints for my post.
I'm puzzled as to why that should be, as I hadn't even expressed an opinion in my previous posts. All I was doing was reporting what the reality of the situation is.
It's up to you whether or not you agree with what the UK/US goverments are doing at the moment. But I would expect you to have the courtesy to tell me why you disagree with my posts.

Originally posted by darkes Hmm, I see I also got negative antipoints for my post.
I'm puzzled as to why that should be, as I hadn't even expressed an opinion in my previous posts. All I was doing was reporting what the reality of the situation is.
It's up to you whether or not you agree with what the UK/US goverments are doing at the moment. But I would expect you to have the courtesy to tell me why you disagree with my posts.

well i think that
1. it sux that we have to fight for our civil liberties
B. we have to fight for it because along with freedom comes responsibility, which people are not taking (responsibility).
&. i think that we're attacking the right people, for the wrong reasons.

There are one or two related issues here that people might be interested in.

Firstly, the position that the UK & US have taken in legalising the use of Echelon, Carnivore etc. is not shared by by the rest of the EU (i.e. Western Europe). It is not legal in the rest of the EU, and the EU published a critical report on Echelon, which also questioned how effective the system was in practice. Full report is at http://cryptome.org/echelon-ep.htm

Secondly on the more general question of private individuals being allowed to send encrypted emails, both the UK & US governments would find this very difficult to ban, except under wartime conditions. In the US, you have your written constitution (especially the fourth ammendment). And in the UK, the European Convention on Human Rights now applies.
Although, it should be noted that the UK government is currently proposing to suspend parts of this act, to allow for indefinite detention without trial.